Mistake
by Lady-Aurora-Pendragon
Summary: It was just a mistake he had made on the tube; it was Gwaine's fault really. Merthur. Oneshot. Modern AU.


(**A/N:** I literally wrote this oneshot because I've been really into Modern Merthurs lately and I was bored, so instead of working on any of my actual fanfictions I wrote this cheesy gem! I got the inspiration from my mum today, who this happened to. She got a text from someone and then it called the person without her knowing, while she talked bad about them. It made me laugh when she told me and I don't know, this just happened, it's not for serious or anything, just enjoy it. I just finished writing it now so it's not that perfect. I don't own Merlin, by the way.)

* * *

Merlin walked up the three little steps and knocked on the door. It was a bit of a drowsy afternoon, the clouds were thick in the sky, and a few drops of rain fell every so often. Overall, it was a pretty crap day and Merlin just wanted to get to the mall before the skies opened up and dumped a whole tub on him. The door opened and Gwaine stepped out, grinning at Merlin, as he pulled on a leather jacket.

They walked down the street together, silently, but what Merlin did hear was a few claps of thunder and pushed the hoodie hood onto his head more. Once they got to the tube, he was a bit less wary. No he wasn't sugar like Arthur teased, he wouldn't melt if rain hit him, he just didn't really fancy rain.

As they entered the car, Merlin's phone beeped, he looked at it and sighed, as they sat down in the one of the (rather dirty) seats. Gwaine leaned over to read the text too. Because he's a nosy prat.

It was from Arthur.

_Working over, be home late. :)_

"He tells you when he'll be home?" Gwaine asked then, chuckling. "That's very domestic."

"Only so I won't worry or anything," Merlin shrugged it off, shoving his phone back into his pocket without replying to Arthur. He crossed his arms over his middle, where the phone was, so it would stay put. He's lost a phone a time or two, he almost saw reason to start carrying a manpurse, although, he would just lose that too.

"How come you haven't told him?" Gwaine asked, being the nosy prat he always is. Why was Merlin friends with this guy?

"I can't, you know that," Merlin shrugged. "He just broke up with Gwen and I couldn't just do that…"

"That's what you've been saying for a year, that you can't…it's gettin' old, mate."

"What am I supposed to say?" Merlin's voice rose slightly, aggravated with his friend. "Hey Arthur, how was work? By the way, mate, I might be a little in love with you, and it's becoming a problem!"

"It sounded good to me," Gwaine shrugged, smirking. "You over complicate things."

"He'll never talk to me again if I just say it…" Merlin mumbled, feeling like an ass for even saying those words to Gwaine. "He's not even gay…"

"He's checked out Percy before," Gwaine nudged Merlin with an elbow, smirking dirtily. Merlin chuckled at this.

"Everyone checks out Percy, they can't help it."

A few minutes later, they were walking down the street, a steady rain was now falling on them and Merlin was none too happy about this. But instead of growling, he pulled out his phone to text Gwen, she had a car and would make this trip to the mall that much better. But for some strange reason his phone was already on when he pulled it out and it had minutes on the screen. Not that this was a new some strange reason, it did this all the time, Merlin just didn't know why.

"Oh god," he complained. "This damn thing is calling someone again!" He hung it up before he had seen who it had called and proceeded to text Gwen. "I really have to replace this phone."

"Who did it call this time?" Gwaine asked, Merlin wasn't looking at him, but he could hear the smirk. "I'll never forget the time your phone called me and I got to hear a lovely convo between you and Morgana about my ass…ah, good times."

"Bad timing was all that was," Merlin shrugged, not all that sorry about the time Gwaine listened to him talk about his ass for a good ten minutes. Why he didn't just hang up was beyond Merlin, he supposed to boost his ego. After finishing his text to Gwen he opened the call log tab and his mouth fell open. "Oh shit!"

"What?" Gwaine asked, clearly amused. "Who was it this time?"

"Arthur!" he almost yelled, recalling the the conversation he and Gwaine had on the tube. "Oh my god…"

"More of that bad timing, hm?" Gwaine was clearly amused even more now and Merlin wanted to slap him. He glared at Gwaine something terrible as his phone dinged with a text and he looked down, fearful. It was only Gwen telling him she and Morgana were already at the mall. Gwaine was chuckling now. "Hey, don't worry about it. How long was the phone on for?"

"Ten minutes!" Merlin moaned, that would have been plenty of time for Arthur to hear all he needed. "Do you think he answered? He never answers at work…maybe it just rang."

"Yeah, it probably did, mate," Gwaine nodded but then smirked. "Or went to his messages."

"Oh no…" Merlin moaned, wet face in his wet hands. He has GOT to replace this damned phone!

When they got to the mall Merlin's mood didn't improve any, he was soaking wet and fearful of having ruined his friendship with Arthur indifferently. Even after they had met Gwen and Morgana in the food court, he just sat there while Gwaine stole some of Morgana's chips and she glared daggers at him.

"What's the matter, Merlin?" Gwen asked, looking concerned at him. "You're not normally this quiet."

"Oh he done fucked up, he did!" Gwaine told her, mouth full of chips. Merlin looked up and matched Morgana's glare at him.

"What happened?" Gwen asked, even more concerned now. But how could he tell her? She and Arthur had just broken up.

"He accidently called Arthur!" Gwaine explained further and Merlin aimed a kick at him under the table. He yelped but went on anyway. "He might have said a few things Arthur heard too…maybe."

"What did you say?" Morgana asked this time, jerking her plate away from Gwaine's hungry fingers. But Merlin refused to answer; he just shrugged and leaned further over the table, putting his face in his still wet arms.

"He confessed his love for him on the tube!" Gwaine announced nearly loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear him. Merlin had had about all he could take of his shit today, he was officially looking for a new best friend starting now.

"I knew it!" Morgana sounded, suddenly not caring about her chips anymore. Leaning forward as if Merlin's life was one of her soaps. Merlin turned to Gwen then though, because he felt pretty guilty right about now, she only smiled at him.

"You should tell him, to his face," she, being the closes to him at the table, put her hand on his arm. "He might feel the same way."

"Doubt that," Merlin mumbled.

"Wait, so you don't know if he heard?" Morgana asked. "He could have just heard mumbling or Gwaine being his disgusting self," she glared at him and he grinned at the comment. "You're freaking out over nothing. Did he text you or call back?"

"He never calls or answers calls while he's at work," Merlin pulled out his phone and looked at the text messages, the last one was from Gwen. "He hasn't text me either."

"Then he probably didn't hear anything!" she exclaimed, looking bored with him now, sitting back and tapping her red nails on the table.

"Or he just didn't get the message yet," Gwaine grinned, having now finished all of Morgana's chips.

"Oh shut up, pig!" she remarked, aiming a shove at his shoulder. He just laughed.

"You should still tell him, Merlin," Gwen said. "You can't keep it all bottled up."

"I can," Merlin replied, but just as he did his phone beeped and he literally felt his stomach drop into his ass. He didn't want to look, but he picked up his phone anyway, gulping. Praying it was anyone, his mum, Leon, Percy, Mordred…anyone but Arthur.

_We need to talk when I get home. Stay up!_

He never got anything he wanted, Merlin decided then. He wondered where he was going to live now, because Arthur knew, he knew his secret and he probably hated him. He supposed his utterly horrified face told the others all they needed to know, because they were on him like flies next thing he knew.

"It's alright, its better this way," Gwen was telling him, petting his arm.

"I've been telling you to get on with it, this is your chance," Gwaine was saying.

"This is great, why can't someone video tape this for me so I can watch it later?" Morgana was saying. "I mean, oh, that's too bad for you, Merlin…"

Merlin didn't feel like doing any shopping after that, he just aimlessly followed Gwaine around for awhile, it was all a blur really. A blur of thoughts and fears and sickness. Honestly, he felt so sick; a few times, he was sure he was going to puke. Luckily, he held it together. He didn't want to be left alone in his flat, at least it was his flat for now, until Arthur got home tonight and kicked him out. But Gwaine left after an hour of dropping him off, the rain had cleared up, although it was still pretty crappy out, it wasn't raining anymore, but Merlin couldn't find happiness in even that small fact.

He tried to get his mind off it, it was going to happen, Arthur knew, and there was no going back now. But even as he sat there, with Doctor Who (Merlin's favorite show) on the screen, he just couldn't focus on it. All he could think about was when Arthur got home and how he wouldn't be able to look at Merlin the same, or how he might yell at him for how he felt. He couldn't help it though, he hadn't meant to fall in love with him, it just happened and he had never planned on acting on it. It was just a mistake he had made on the tube; it was Gwaine's fault really.

Gwaine was annoying, he was always pushing Merlin to tell Arthur and this now, this is why he couldn't, Arthur didn't feel the same way, Merlin knew that for sure. There was no doubt or hope, there was no maybe…there was a fat chance in hell Arthur would feel the same and if that text said anything, it was that he didn't.

Eight o'clock came and went and it was almost nine when Merlin realized that he had no idea what time Arthur would be getting home and all he really wanted to do at this point was sleep, but he couldn't. He hadn't eaten anything since that morning, when everything was peaceful and platonic and not screwed up. He dragged himself from the sofa and went into the kitchen, he wasn't really hungry but he needed to do something, he couldn't just sit there and mull it for another moment. He got some cheese from the fridge and some bread from the cupboard, fully intending on grilling up some grilled cheese when he heard something from the living room, he prayed it wasn't Arthur. Anyone else, a burglar, a murderer, Santa Claus, anyone but Arthur.

"Merlin!"

So, praying had failed him twice in one day, he might have to start going to crunch more, he thought as he swallowed hard and headed for the kitchen door. But he stopped before going out. Maybe if he just hid under the table Arthur wouldn't find him and give up.

"Merlin!"

"That didn't seem likely; he walked out, timidly to find the living room empty. But it wasn't for long, Arthur came from the hall and stopped upon seeing Merlin there. Merlin averted his eyes from him.

"Hi," he mumbled, looking anywhere but Arthur. "Grilled cheese?"

He looked up to find Arthur scowling at him.

"No, I don't want grilled cheese, thanks!" Arthur said, a bit roughly. "I want to talk about this, actually." He pulled out his phone and advanced toward Merlin. Merlin backed up, almost scared, but once he got close enough, Arthur shoved the phone in his hands. "Listen to it and then explain!"

Merlin didn't want to, he already knew what it was going to say, but he took it anyway and put the phone to his ear, God he was so stupid. _Hey Arthur, how was work? By the way, mate, I might be a little in love with you, and it's becoming a problem!_ There was some other mumbling in the background, but he knew it was Gwaine and then the noise went dead and a voice was asking him if he would like to play the message again. No, in fact, he would not; he would like to burn it.

"So?" Arthur was asking now, his eyes had been on him the whole time and just now it was starting to feel pretty unbearable. "Care to explain that?"

"I, uh..." Merlin mumbling, half shrugging. "Not really…"

"You're in love with me?" Arthur asked then, Merlin just shrugged again. "If you're not going to talk why the hell did you leave me that message? Are you just toying with me?"

"No, I…I didn't mean to!" Merlin pouted, defenseless. Maybe he could pull it off as a sick joke?

"What do you mean you didn't mean to?"

"I was out with Gwaine and you sent me a message and I just said it, I didn't know my phone was on, okay?!" Merlin was yelling now. "I'm sorry, I never meant for you to find out!"

"You were just never going to tell me?" Arthur asked now. "You were just going to what? Harbor feelings for me forever?"

"If I had to…" he mumbled, turning away. He was so overwhelmed suddenly. "I'm sorry, I'll move out if you want me to."

"Why the hell would I want you to move out?" Arthur asked, sounding seriously irritated. "I just want answers."

"Why does it matter?" Merlin walked around Arthur, heading toward his bedroom. "I fucked up our whole friendship, all because of what? My stupid ass phone!"

"You should pay more attention," Arthur told him, like he was a child and needed to be told this. "You never seem to see what's right in front of you."

"Thanks, means a lot…" Merlin mumbled, heading down the hall. "I'll just go now."

"You've never even noticed my feelings for you and they're right there for everyone to see!"

Merlin ran into his door, actually, head butted it, his hand freezing in place after hearing that coming from the living room. Arthur's what? His what?! He turned around and walked back into the living room, confused more than he would care to say. Had he heard wrong? Arthur was smirking at him as he reentered the room.

"Your what?"

Arthur chuckled. "Why do you think I broke up with Gwen, you idiot?"

"Because you're an asshole?" Merlin asked, although his feet were carrying him over to where Arthur still stood.

"An asshole for falling for my best friend?" Arthur shrugged with a smirk. "Probably."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Merlin was asking now, smiling stupidly.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Arthur returned the question, smiling the same way Merlin was, so he supposed he wasn't that stupid.

"I thought you were straight."

"That was your mistake," Arthur told him, dragging him in and kissing him quite soundly on the lips. Merlin thought then, as he wrapped his arms around Arthur's shoulders, dragging him in closer, that maybe he wouldn't replace his phone after all.


End file.
